peter john rios

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#137

Defenders: The final issue of the series picked off the rack at the time of its release. I always felt like this title was on the margins of the Marvel U, similar to Batman and the Outsiders but even more so. I enjoyed this series at the time for its strangeness and combination of characters and I look forward to one day reading the entire series from start to finish. I read the current ongoing Defenders title by Matt Fraction but I’m too far behind on that title to talk about it. Gotta love that Kevin Nowlan cover though. (1984)

Flash (1998)

Green Arrow: The final issue before Oliver Queen returns in the acclaimed Kevin Smith/Phil Hester run. Hints are dropped about how Oliver may have returned - and Parallax may be responsible. A few issues into the Kevin Smith run, this final issue turned out to be highly sought after - and I can remember flipping it on ebay for a nice price. (1998)

Marvel Team-Up: Galactus. Aunt May as Golden Oldie. Twinkles! It can only be… Assistant Editor’s Month! And a great month it was. (1984)

New X-Men (2003)

Nightwing: Marv Wolfman’s final issue of his run, wrapping up a return of Dick Grayson’s “first” girlfriend, dropping in some Batman/New Teen Titans nuggets, etc. All that, ultimately, went nowhere. I would go on to pick up the next two Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul chapters, but that was where I ended my reading of my favorite character. (2007)

Wonder Woman (1998)

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From the read it but never owned it file:

Uncanny X-Men: I haven’t read much of the Claremont/Byrne years of UX, but I did devour the Dark Phoenix Saga in trade format. I stopped collecting comics at the end of 1987 for a little more than two years (eventually, years later, I would read comics from that period and realize that I hadn’t missed much. Power of the Atom? Yikes!). I would slowly make my way back into comics in 1990 when I came across a pile of Superman in Space comics after the events of Invasion. From there, I discovered these cool extra thick comics called… trades! And the first one I picked up in October of 1990 was X-Men: the Dark Phoenix Saga, the one that had the awesome Sienkiewicz cover on it (from there I would pick up Batman Arkham Asylum and then Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying - what? A new Robin?? Next came Titans Hunt issues and I was back in the game!). I no longer have that X-Men trade but it was the first time I dipped into that epic X-Men saga. Well, that’s not entirely true. Back in the early 80s, I did pick up that Phoenix: the Untold Story oneshot that reprinted the original ending to the Dark Phoenix Saga that had Jean Grey alive and well by the end. So I knew the original ending before I ever read the way it actually ended. Strange. And thanks to Mr. Phil for yelling at me … I mean reminding me about this issue! (1980)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#217

Flash (2005)

Justice League of America: Chuck Patton’s first issue on the series featuring a villain from Arion, another DC book during the same time. (1983)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes: First appearance of Laurel Kent! Who apparently shows up Superman/Batman 80?!? (1976)

Superman (2005)

Wonder Woman (2005)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#228

Daredevil: The issue where Matt completely snaps. (1986)

Flash: It’s got Nightwing in it. What more do I need? (2006)

Justice League of America: Martian Manhunter returns to the JLA after years of being away. And the destruction that follows him will mean the end of the JLA! (1984)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes: It’s the death of Chemical King! (1977)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#230

Daredevil: There it is. The chapter title that named the entire arc. I don’t remember if he did this in his earlier run, but Frank Miller definitely thrust Matt Murdock and his religion together with this story. His mother, the titles, the images, Karen’s “30 pieces of silver”. It’s all there hiding brilliantly in the background filling the story and enriching the world of Daredevil. (1986)

Incredible Hulk: Funny how a cover I swear I never saw before can trigger a memory of an old comic. I had this issue from my uncle’s collection - but there was no cover on it. The splash page is the Hulk sitting in a field chomping down on some corn. The image must be fairly ingrained to be triggered by a cover I never saw before. It’s another alien-meets-the-Hulk story, but that’s all I remember. I’m fairly certain the alien in this issue is in one of the OHOTMUs. Brown, bug eyes, suckers for his fingertips. Go look it up. (1978)

Justice League of America: I love when the JLA covers feature the border headshots of the characters in the story. There’s just something so DC about that. This is the story that ended the satellite-era JLA for good. It would continue into JLA Annual 2. (1984)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#231

Daredevil: Such a powerful issue. I need to reread these soon. (1986)

Justice League of America: Kurt Busiek pens this two-part JLA/JSA team-up complete with ‘Crisis’ in the title. And it’s just… okay. Never really cared for this story but it has a few interesting bits: most notably Supergirl’s appearance and a cameo of the Monitor and Lyla in the second part. Notice that the JLA title logo gets a subtle redesign. (1984)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#233

Daredevil: The final issue in the Born Again storyarc. And David Mazzucchelli’s final issue as well. I’ve read that having the Avengers in the last two issues was an editorial mandate put on Miller at the time. If true - I’m still looking for proof of this from an actual Frank Miller interview - that could explain why the last two issues always felt a bit out of place to me. Either way, there’s no denying that this arc is a major building block in raising comics up as a medium worthy of attention during the 80s and beyond. (1986)

Fantastic Four (1981)

Justice League of America: Fresh off of their debut in the second JLA Annual, it’s the new Detroit JLA! And who gets first cover dibs? Vibe! Parachute pants and all! Many people call him a gross 80s stereotype - and there’s truth to that - but the way his character was portrayed (his bravado, his style, his put on accent - that’s right, his accent was an act that slipped to “normal” at times) was fairly spot on as well. Although I never really grew up full blast into a latino culture (sure, some of my aunts/uncles/grandparents spoke spanish, but my home life was as American as anyone else’s. Hungry Hungry Hippos, Oreos, Price is Right, Great Space Coaster, MTV, Moonlighting, Michael Jackson, the Challenger, Ronald Reagan, the Russians, 99 Luftballoons what have you) you better believe that I had cousins who were no different than Paco Ramone - and were sometimes worse! George Perez may have been offended by the character, but in my eyes, it worked. Not to mention that there was an explosion of latino spotlight in the 80s (Rubik, the Amazing Cube cartoon, anyone?). Plus, Gerry Conway went out of his way to make sure readers saw that, for all of his outward machismo, Vibe was just as flawed and human as the rest of the us. So good on him. Sure, easy to laugh at in hindsight. And the Detroit-era is more nostalgia than well-liked. But it was the first time the JLA book enjoyed an extended forward narrative rather than constant 1 to 3 issue stories. It brought the Martian Manhunter back into play after years of being sidelined. It put Vixen on the map as a viable character. Along with his mini-series, it made Aquaman a character worth exploring. And it gave us a brief look at the underrated work of Chuck Patton. All of which makes it more than just a bump in JLA publishing history. (1984)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes: First Appearance of the Infinite Man! One of my favorite not-often-used Legion villains. If you need a comparison, he’s kindof like DC’s version of Marvel’s Eternity. Kinda. Sorta. (1977)

And we’re not done yet! I never read or owned the following issues, but #233 is also notable for the first appearance of Batwoman in Detective Comics as well as the start of the brief Denny O’Neil run on Superman (which would coincide more or less with his “revamps” of Batman and Wonder Woman). Most likely the Superman issue is more known for the cover itself.

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#236

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear returns! I forgot that I once had this issue. The cover border was a standard across the Marvel line in this month celebrating their 25th Anniversary. The artist is Walt Simonson (which I guess you kind of see), strange because the interior is Barry Windsor-Smith who provided the cover for Fantastic Four during this month (issue 296 incidentally). The interiors are beautiful - probably an early exposure for me to BWS’s work after his Machine Man run and his random Uncanny X-Men issues. This is Ann Nocenti’s first DD issue - although not the first that would start her run. I thought I had missed her run completely but I guess I did sneak in at least one issue. An issue featuring the Black Widow, the two turn out a pretty good comic. (1986)

Fantastic Four: The F4 celebrate their 20th Anniversary. Stan’s on the cover. Where’s Jack? Go look for that story. It’s pretty interesting. I mean, only practically the entire Marvel Universe was created in the first 50 issues of F4. Hmph. (1981)

Justice League of America: The final chapter of the storyarc that introduces the new Detroit JLA. They go up against the Cadre, a relatively generic supergroup for the most part, but it does provide a great scene with Aquaman picking an energized crowbar out of the air mid-throw and tossing it back to his opponents. See that folks? Aquaman was cool long before Peter David got his hands on him. Keep watch on the next three entries as the covers form one giant image. (1985)

X-Men Legacy (2010)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#239

Fantastic Four (1982)

Justice League of America: The last JLA issue penciled by Chuck Patton - one of my favorite 80s artists. This issue finally cuts the remaining strings between the new JLA Detroit and the old JLA with the resigning in spirit of Superman, Wonder Woman and Flash - all who had been lost in time before this because of the Crisis. (1985)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1978)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#248

The slightly hungover edition:

Avengers: This title is back and will be for a few issues. This was the final issue I picked up off the shelf at the time of its release. I wouldn’t return to this book for another 8 years once Operation Galactic Storm started. This early 80s run wasn’t anything special - and maybe that’s why I wasn’t keen to stick around. I’ve often thought that Marvel’s early/mid 80s output - riding high off of the creativity of the 70s - leveled a bit on average. The standouts are there: Simonson Thor, Miller on Daredevil, Byrne’s Fantastic Four, etc - but on the whole, Marvel got a little comfortable in the 80s until they needed to shake things up once DC’s 50th Anniversary hit and suddenly the spotlight was on DC. A cycle that is going on right now. (1984)

Fantastic Four: Crystal and Quicksilver name their daughter: Luna. I always liked the way Byrne drew Blackbolt. His version, since I have yet to absorb the Kirby version, is probably the definitive take in my mind’s eye. (1982)

Justice League of America (1986)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes: A later Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes cover reminds me of this one. It’s like a loose unintentional homage (see below). (1979)